Fulgurite ("frozen lightning")

Great Sand Sea, Matruh Governorate, Egypt
Cabinet, 11.1 x 1.5 x 0.9 cm
Start Time: 08/10/2013 6:30:00 pm (CDT)
End Time: 08/15/2013 6:30:00 pm (CDT)
Auction Closed

Item Description

A fulgurite is formed when lightning flashes into desert sand and literally melts the sand around the impact site into a glass cast following the shape of the electrical discharge. Obviously, large fulgurites, being thin-walled, hollow and elongated as they are, are fragile and hard to obtain. This is a fairly good-sized specimen, though, and from the classic locality for the material that I first was fascinated by as a kid, several decades ago now.

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